David Letterman’s mea culpa: Take 2

It doesn’t look like this David Letterman mess is going away any time soon. The New York media is all over it (Best headline: Dave should have kept it in his Worldwide Pants) and Letterman himself addressed it again on his show last night.

The sex-and-blackmail scandal dominated his monologue. “Don’t kid yourself, things are still pretty bad. There’s a possibility I’ll be the first talk show host impeached,” he told a cheering audience. And that was just one of many one-liners he delivered before closing with this: “I want to remind you, this is only Phase 1 of the scandal. Phase 2, I go on Oprah next week and sob.”

Actually, Phase 2 came moments later when he got to his desk and issued somber apologies to his wife, Regina Lasko, and staff members.

“… Regina has been horribly hurt by my behavior,” he said. “When something happens like that if you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point there’s only two things that can happen You’re either going to make progress and get it fixed or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. So let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me. ”

As for his co-workers, Letterman said they have been “browbeaten and humiliated” by reporters since the story broke.

“My thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in,” he said.